Rumen Microbiota: Higher Efficiency through a Balanced Ecosystem
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Physiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 4227
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rumen microbiota; functions; colonization; probiotics; live yeasts
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Since the last decade, there has been a tremendous growing interest around gut microbiota in humans and animals. We are now aware that gut microbiota plays numerous key roles in nutrition, health and welfare of their hosts. In ruminants, the first description of an abundant and diversified microbiota in the rumen was reported a long time ago, and as such rumen microbiology represents a pioneering research field that is still taken as example for many fundamental ecology concepts in different natural ecosystems.
For nutritionists, the rumen has been for long considered as a kind of black box, nevertheless with the awareness that it was playing a crucial role in feed degradation and fermentation, driving productivity in dairy of meat producing ruminants. From early microbiology studies to more recent research using omics approaches, the scientific community has gained a lot of knowledge on the diversity, composition and functions of rumen microbiota, and on the biotic and abiotic factors which may affect rumen microbial efficiency. The impact of rumen microbiota activity on the environment, through polluting outputs, on product quality and safety, and on global animal welfare and health are being largely studied currently but a lot of research still needs to be done to better understand these complex interactions at the animal level.
Modern precision farming has to take into account individual variability in terms of rumen efficiency in order to define strategies to improve production objectives and in this context, it is of primary importance to understand relationships within rumen microbial communities and between microbiota and the host animal, in a context where climate change, food safety and nutritional quality, or animal welfare, are of great concern for both producers and consumers.
Within the frame of precision farming, the use of non-antibiotic feed supplements could represent nice opportunities for producers to fine-tune mechanisms and functions of rumen microbiota, with potential benefits outside the rumen too.
The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent research and reviews focused on the role of rumen microbiota as a driver of efficiency, health and welfare, and on strategies to improve rumen function with the aim of stimulating interest, understanding and exploration of this important subject.
Dr. Frederique Chaucheyras-Durand
Dr. Evelyne Forano
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Rumen
- Microbiota
- Activity
- Omics
- Functions
- Probiotics
- Rumen Efficiency
- Health
- Methane
- Feed Degradation
